


To Where and Back Again

by sideofgrima



Series: Chrobin Week 2020 [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, F/M, Recovery, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sideofgrima/pseuds/sideofgrima
Summary: Day 6 + 7: Recovery & Reincarnation (well, rebirth, technically).Selfless sacrifices don’t exist with consequences, and Robin has to face the reality that she left Lucina without a mother.
Relationships: Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Series: Chrobin Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979573
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	To Where and Back Again

“Lucina? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Selfless sacrifices don’t exist with consequences, that much was evident. 

Robin knew this when she took Grima down.

But when you give your life up for those you love, you don’t  _ typically _ expect to come back, especially not years later. 

Yet when Chrom spoke those ever kind words to her and hoisted her to her feet, Robin knew this was real. Grima had been defeated, the lack of brand on her hand was proof…

But the world moved on without her. 

In honesty, she hadn’t believed Naga when the divine dragon said there was a chance for her to return. For whatever amount of time had passed, she was considered dead by the rest of the world. Frankly, she wished she had stayed that way, since it would beat having to face her biggest regret.

As soon as they had entered the gates of Ylisstol, Robin asked, nay, demanded to see her child. Her infant daughter, whom she hadn’t seen for months before the battle with Grima, and now even longer with her absence... What were the chances she would remember her? Close to zero, she assumed. Yet she couldn’t help but pray that wasn’t the case.

Three years she had been gone for. That was three years of missing every milestone in her child’s life. Three years of having to catch up with a four year old child who did not know her, and chances are, did  _ not _ want to know her. 

The nursemaid looked up from the chair where she had Lucina sat in her lap, a small storybook sat open before them.

“Papa!” The toddler cried, scrambling off the maids lap with zero care for what she kicked before sprinting into her father's arms. Robin remained in the hallway, not sure if she should step into the nursery or not. “You’re back!”

“How was my girl while I was away?” He asked, pressing kisses to the top of his daughters head.

“She was about as well as she is everytime,” the maid asked. “Constantly asking about you and when you’d be back, trying to get into things she shouldn’t. I swear she’s too clever for her own good sometimes-” her eyes fell on Robin before she could finish her sentence. “My gods… I-I’ll leave you two for a moment…” she left, the nursemaid placed a hand on Robin’s shoulder. “Welcome back, Milady.”

“T-thank you,” she whispered before turning her attention back to her family, where Lucina was so enamored by her father she hadn’t noticed the stranger standing in the doorway.

“Luci, we have someone very special here today… would you like to meet them?” Chrom said with a smile.

“Um, I dunno…” she replied shyly.

“Well, I think you’ll like her. You’ve met her before, after all.”

“I have!?” Lucina cried, seemingly filled with more excitement.

“You sure have, though it’s been a while… Love?” And then Chrom waved Robin into the room. With a shaky breath, she stepped into the room, trying to calm her nerves. “Lucina, this is Robin… your mama.”

“Hi, sweetheart,” she said quietly, though Lucina buried her head into Chrom’s shoulder.

“Papa… I don’t know her,” she whispered away from Robin.

“L-Luci…” She tried to reach out to her daughter, only to have her shrink away from her touch. 

Already, Robin was choked with emotion. She knew it. She  _ knew _ it. Coming here first was a bad idea, she  _ shouldn’t _ have come here.

“C-Chrom, she doesn’t… she doesn’t remember me,” she whispered.

“Come now, honey,” he tried to coax his daughter. “Even if you don’t know her, it’s rude not to say hello.”

“No!” Lucina suddenly cried. “I don’t know her, just like the other ladies who came to see me!”

Chrom suddenly looked towards Robin, mortified.

“There were no ‘other ladies’. Just suitors who tried to get to me through our daughter… Lucina, why would you say that?” He tried to ask, only for the toddler to ball her fists and fight to be put down. 

“‘Cause I don’t want to be near this lady! I don’t have a mama! I don’t need one! All I need is papa!”

“Lucina, y-you  _ do _ have a mama, though. You used to ask about her all the time, I told you about-”

“NO! No, no, no! I don’t have a mama like Sebera or Owain! Mine isn’t here!” She continued to cry before Chrom eventually put her down, where she ran over to the rocking chair and hoisted herself up before opening a storybook and pretending to read, though the book was upside down so it wasn’t entirely convincing.

“Oh gods, I don't know what to do, Chrom,” Robin sobbed into her hands, only for her husband to pull her into a tight embrace.

“You’re back now, that’s all that matters,” he said, though he had begun to shed a few tears. “She might just be a bit overwhelmed, but-”

“I missed everything,” she lamented. “Her first words, her first steps, I held her  _ once  _ before we left… before  _ I _ left. It’s never going to be the same, I-” Robin was cut off as she felt something tug at her coat. With a confused look, her gaze fell to Lucina, who had made her way over to the two of them without either noticing.

“I don’t like when papa cries,” she said quietly. “It makes me sad. So… if you’re crying, then you must be sad too.”

“I… I am, Lucina,” Robin admitted, kneeling down to meet eyes with her daughter.

“How come?”

“W-well, I did something a few years ago that made people upset. A-and because of what I did, I didn’t get the chance to see the most beautiful little girl grow up.”

“Who?”

“Well, it was you. The last time I saw you was when you were a little baby,” Robin sniffled, feeling another tear drip down. Lucina took it upon herself to wipe it off her cheek, though that amounted to her taking her whole hand and smearing it around her face.

“Really?”

“Mhm. I remember when you were born. Cutest little face, and the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen… you were tiny, too,” she said with a sad smile. 

“Nu-uh! I was never tiny!”

“Really? Because I remember you only being about yea big,” Robin explained, holding her hands out to show her daughter. 

“No way! Papa, you never said I was tiny!”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me,” Chrom admitted, stepping by his wife’s side. 

Robin barked out a laugh. “I wonder who she gets that stubbornness from.”

“You laughed!” Lucina pointed out. “You aren’t sad anymore?”

“Well, maybe a little. But- woah!” She yelped as her daughter grabbed the hem of her cloak and pulled her towards the door. “Um, where are we going?”

“I go to mama sometimes when I’m sad. Maybe she’ll help you?” 

Robin turned back and gave Chrom curious smile, though even he seemed unaware of what his daughter was talking about.

As they walked through the castle hallways, Lucina charged ahead with as much vigor and confidence as she would’ve expected from her child, though there were times she would stumble on bumps on the carpet or over her own feet. There, she would stabilize herself on her mother’s cloak or arms, until she settled for holding Robin’s hand instead.

Eventually, they reached her old office, one she would spend time after time in before moving completely into Chrom’s. Atop her old desk sat an elaborate portrait of Robin, one she remembered having been done after she and her husband’s engagement. Around it sat various candles, many having burnt out, along with bouquets of flowers both new and old. 

At first, she was taken aback. How often could a person say they saw their own memorial?

But then she realized that this was the only image her daughter had of her. She looked at the painting and cringed because in all honesty, she really hadn’t been too pleased with the end product. It was a picture of herself, sure, but something about it, from the ornate dress to the lazy half smile, that made it feel unnatural, fake and  _ forced. _

“This is mama,” Lucina said proudly. 

“I-” Robin took a moment to stare herself down. “I see. What do you do when you come to see her?”

“Talk to her, I guess… she doesn’t talk back, but that’s okay. She’s a good listener.”

“Lucina, does that portrait look familiar at all?” Chrom added, stepping into the room.

“Ummm… I dunno,” she squinted at the painting before looking back at her father until her gaze landed on Robin. “Hmm.”

She continued to switch back between the painting and Robin before she tugged on her sleeves once more, guiding her to stand next to the painting. After a moment more of comparing, Lucina walked to Chrom’s side, where she motioned to be picked up.

“Papa?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Why does mama look like that lady?”

“Well, why do  _ you _ think?”

“Um… I dunno… Oh!”

“Yeah?”

“That’s mama’s sister!”

Robin, though the moment was bittersweet, couldn’t help but snort. 

“You’re close, honey,” Chrom urged. “Try again. Robin would look like mama because they’re…?”

“Um… the same?”

“Yes! So… don’t you think there’s something you should say to her?” He said, letting Lucina down to the ground, who then moved herself to Robin’s side. 

“Um…” she said, looking down at her feet.

“Go ahead, honey,” Robin encouraged.

“Can I wear your coat?”

“Oh! Of course you can,” she said with a laugh before passing her coat to her daughter, which was comically oversized. 

“Thank you… mama,” she said coyly. Though the words were new to her, Lucina tested it over and over again, each time bringing a new wave of emotions in Robin until she found herself crying again.

“I missed you, baby,” she murmured as she brought her daughter in for a hug. Chrom brought himself over to join in the embrace. “And I’m sorry, love.”

“Don’t be…” He whispered. “What matters now is that our family is whole again.”

“Oh!” Lucina suddenly cried, wriggling herself out of her parents grasp.

“What is it?” They both asked.

“I have to show you to Sebera and Owain and Kjelle and Cynfia and Inigo and everyone! They won’t believe my mama is back!” She cried before hobbling towards the door, though she promptly tripped over the cloak she still wore with an ‘oof’. 

“Gods, do you think anyone else knows?” Robin said to Chrom as she helped her daughter to her feet. 

“If one nursemaid saw you, then they all know about it by now. And if that’s the case, then news must’ve spread like wildfire-”

“ROBIN!” A chorus of voices suddenly cried from the doorway as what seemed like the entirety of the Shepherd’s piled into the room, all of which clambered over each other to wrap their arms around their beloved tactician. 

She quickly swooped her daughter into her arms before she was trampled, which earned a fit of giggles from Lucina before she was enveloped in the embrace of all of her friends.

Self sacrifices be damned,  _ this _ was what brought her back: the unwavering love from her comrades in arms.

And gods above, this was where she was meant to be.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> And thus concludes the end of Chrobin week. This was the first prompt challenge I've ever participated in and I'm very glad I did, since I think it may have successfully gotten me out of my slog I've been in (but I suppose we shall see >:))


End file.
